The Paper's reporter Cheng Xiaojun
Entering August, the North American film market entered a large dry period, which made the theater practitioners cry bitterly. In fact, strictly speaking, the number of new films released recently is not small, but the fame of the work is average, the cast is mediocre, and it is not attractive enough for the audience. For example, in the three days last weekend, there were two or three new films that were released on a large scale in North America, but the total North American box office for the whole weekend was only $52 million, the second lowest so far this year , the lowest total box office in the last weekend of January, only $34.9 million.
Medium-low-cost new films have not done well at the box office
The horror film "The Invitation" from Sony Pictures was released in 3,114 theaters and grossed $7 million, which can already top the weekend box office list. In the same period of 2019, such box office data can only rank seventh; Even in the same period of 2021, the same newly released horror film "Candy Man" received $22 million. Of course, this comparison does not mean that the current North American film market as a whole is worse than last year. However, after a vigorous summer program, Hollywood film companies seem to have some lack of stamina, blockbusters are somewhat green and yellow, and small productions such as "Invitation" that cost only $10 million are simply impossible to spend tens of millions of dollars to publicize, resulting in general public awareness and naturally the box office.
Stills from "Invitation"
"The Invitation" is based on the story of dracula, a popular vampire, directed by Jessica M. Thompson, a 37-year-old emerging Australian who had only written and directed the feminist film "Moonlight", but the film was not released on a large scale in North America. "Invitation" starred Natalie Emanuel from the United Kingdom, who has participated in the HBO hit TV series "Game of Thrones" and the blockbuster series "Fast and Furious" over the years, accumulating a lot of popularity, but there is still a big gap in audience appeal compared to Hollywood's first-line actors. And the film's reputation is also quite bad, with critics on Rotten Tomatoes scoring only 25% of the praise, the lowest of the four premiere new films over the weekend, and 54% of the audience ratings after screening are not very good. Even so, the short general, "Invitation" can still get the first place in the box office list, which can only show that even in the worst time of the market, horror films will not be without a market.
Another weekend-release new film is also from an Australian director, but this one is much more famous: The fantasy film Three Thousand Years of Longing, directed by George Miller, director of the Mad Max series and starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, was released in 2,436 theaters in North America.
Poster of "Three Thousand Years of Thoughts"
Supposedly, "Three Thousand Years of Thoughts" was the biggest in this weekend's new film, but it only grossed $2.87 million at the box office, ranking seventh. The film tells the story of a female scholar played by Tilda Swindon who bought a bottle in the Istanbul bazaar, and hides the legendary wishing elf with boundless mana, who promised to fulfill three wishes for him in order to seek freedom, but the female scholar replied that she had no extravagant wishes in her life...
The film is based on the british female writer A. Thompson. Adaptation of S. Byat's collection of short stories, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye. According to Miller's own words, this is a completely opposite of "Mad Max", mainly in the indoor dialogue scene, the main role is only two, the whole process is filmed in Australia, which can be said to be a product of the standard epidemic era. The film made its world premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival, winning good reviews and a six-minute standing ovation from the audience. The film was distributed by MGM in North America, after foreign media reported that Sunac Culture would introduce the film to be released in Chinese mainland. Although there is no news of the trial at present, it is still expected to see its appearance in September and October, when the imported films have always been piled up.
The thriller "Breaking," released by Bleecker Street, was released in 902 theaters over the weekend and was not strictly speaking a mass release, and eventually grossed $1.02 million, which was a rather poor result. Based on a true story, the film, starring John Boyega, an Englishman who has starred in the Star Wars film series, tells the story of a U.S. Marine Veteran who robs a bank in desperation.
"Rupture" received a fairly good 79% of critics and 82% of the audience on Rotten Tomatoes
"Rupture" received a fairly good 79% of critics and 82% of the audience on Rotten Tomatoes. When it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, it was titled "892" — a figure that represents the $892 that the Veterans Administration owes the male lead. Such a title, although it may be difficult to sell, is at least better than the featureless road title of "Rupture". For some reason, after the Brick Avenue Film Company bought the distribution rights, it decided to change the title of the film, and it did not make much effort in the publicity operation, which really wasted the good reputation of this work.
The Flash escaped the Snow Crisis
The Hollywood film company with the most news last week is probably Warner. On August 24, local time, they arranged a special screening for the crew of "Batgirl", so that those filmmakers who devoted a lot of effort to complete this work, the first and last time, watched it in its entirety and said goodbye to it. Later, Warner announced Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom and Thunder Shazam! The schedule of the two blockbusters "Wrath of the Gods" was postponed - the former was due to the fact that the special effects work was too large and exceeded original expectations; The latter was because it collided with "Avatar", and the IMAX screen was booked for the latter.
In addition, Zaslav, the owner of Warner Bros. Discovery Group, earlier revealed that they also plan to follow Disney's Marvel Universe strategy, specifically looking for a general helmsman like Kevin Feige to run the DC Comics Universe series for the next decade. Since then, the outside world has been concerned about the specific progress of this matter, and a number of media reported last week that Dan Lin, a Chinese-American producer born in Chinese Taipei, has now begun to have in-depth contact with Warner and is likely to take on this responsibility.
Lin Dan has produced films such as the "Sherlock Holmes" series starring Robert Downey Jr., the "Lego Movies" series, and the new "Joker Returns" series. I think that year, after graduating from Harvard Business School, his first job in Hollywood was in Warner Film Production, where he participated in the production of American versions of "Infernal Affairs" and "Alexander" in eight years, and was selected by The Hollywood Reporter magazine as one of the "Top Thirty Producers in Hollywood" in 2015.
Also on Aug. 24, "Problem Actor" Ezra Miller joined agent Scott Metzger and Warner Bros. Studios' top brassers Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. It is said that the two sides have a lot of fun, and the major crisis that the previous "Flash" big movie may be hidden by Warner Snow seems to have been basically resolved, and the film will still be released as scheduled on June 23, 2023.
Stills from The Flash. Ezra Miller as The Flash
In the past two years, Miller has been full of negative news and is on the verge of being on the Hollywood blacklist. On May 1 this year, a local resident in Vermont, USA, reported to the police that his home had been pried, several bottles of wine had been stolen, and after months of visiting and investigating, it was finally confirmed that it was "The Flash" in early August, so he issued a ticket asking Miller to appear in court in August. Earlier, during his vacation in Hawaii, Miller was arrested twice by police within three weeks.
Miller's Dalí biopic "Daliland", which will premiere worldwide at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada in September, does not include his name in the press release, and he is played by the young Dalí in the film , played by Ben Kingsley in his old age. At present, although it seems that it has not been completely replaced, the filmmakers have been trying to cut it, and I believe that the film will not have Miller's figure in the promotional itinerary in Toronto.
By August 15, Ezra Miller finally came out for the first time to apologize publicly, admitting that she had "complex mental health problems" and announcing that she had begun seeking treatment. According to US media reports, his move is also forced by the situation, because it is said that the two new leaders of Warner Bros. Pictures, who took office in July this year, have been considering whether to completely cut him, and even plan to produce "The Flash" at the cost of up to 200 million US dollars.
Filming for The Flash is long overdue, and in September the soundtrack will be produced at London's famed Abbey Road recording studio, led by Benjamin Wallfisch, an Englishman who has written film music for Blade Runner 2049, The Invisible Man and The Joker Returns. The film's special effects are not yet fully completed, but the first cut version of the test screening is said to have been held, and it has received quite excellent audience feedback, in stark contrast to "Batwoman", it is no wonder that Warner will raise a hand to Miller.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Yijia Xu